Sabbatical Day 10 | June 6, 2011
Shepherdsville, KY --> Natural Bridge, VA
There is no better way to start your morning than with a shower. Right?? Yeah. Well - that's true unless you decided to take a shower using the one that I did this morning. It was the WORST! Okay - well it ties for the worst because I can think of two others that drive me bonkers as well. It literally took 25 minutes just to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner from my hair! I almost took the scissors to it myself if it would speed up that damn shower! GAH! So of COURSE that led to us running late - again. I am going to just start using a hose. Or get a buzz cut. Either option works for me.
So, we got some gas for the car and then headed to the Jim Beam distillery. Their next tour was 30 min after we got there so we wandered the gift shop for a while. And for a company as big as Jim Beam, you would expect a lot more from the tour. Jim Beam has been making bourbon whisky for over 200 years and out of 195 countries, Jim Beam distributes to 126 of them, making them the biggest bourbon whisky distributor in the world. They also maintain upwards of 1.8 million barrels of whiskey on the premise at any given time. I also learned that bourbon whiskey, by law, can only be made in the United States. If it is made anywhere else, it can only be called 'whiskey'. I also learned that the bark on the trees around the distillery are black (literally) due to the moisture given off from the distillery. That is how agents knew where to find distilleries during Prohibition - they would just look for trees that had turned black and they would know that someone was making moonshine/whiskey nearby! Cool huh??
However, that is about the extent of what we learned from the tour. You can't go into the actual distillery to see how the whiskey is made - that won't be available until 2012 and our tour guide seemed to be on a mission to make it the shortest tour possible. I could tell Matt was disappointed, which sucked because he was really looking forward to this stop on the trip. After the tour, we did get to try some Jim Beam Black and some Baker's. I liked the Baker's because it was more mild and had a vanilla flavor to it. Matt found it to be too sweet for whiskey. We picked up some souvenirs and then continued on our way.
Today was mostly a driving day. After Jim Beam, the only other thing that we had on the schedule was Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com), but we took a bit of a detour as I wanted to get a Kentucky snowglobe and shot glass. Who knew it would be such a challenge!? We passed signs for the state capitol and Kentucky History Museum - figured one or the other would work. After driving around the capitol building and annex, we finally found parking somewhere in eastern mongolia. The buildings were pretty, but it's way too hot here. We walked inside and the security guy told us that they don't have a gift shop anymore, and that the closest one is at the museum. He drew Matt a map and shooed us back out into the heat (jerk) and the long walk back to the car. Unfortunately, the museum is only open Wednesday - Saturday (you'd think he could have mentioned that). We drove to the visitors' center and the woman inside suggested the chocolate shop that gives tours. Sure - why didn't I think of that! I TOTALLY should have realized that the CANDY store would have snowglobes!! Funny enough, they actually did have a cute snowglobe and they are also the inventors of the bourbon ball, which is a delicious chocolate treat. I'll have to order some... just not sure if they'll get through the alcohol czars in Utard. .:giggle:.
So now that our lunch plan turned into a dinner plan (sorry Honey!), we finally headed on our way to our original first stop, Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com) - which was freaking AMAZING!
You pull up to this place and your first reaction is pure horror! It is the epitome of hillbilly. There are two school buses side by side that have been converted into dining areas, and then a bunch of shacks built around them that make up the restaurant, the men's room and the women's room, and then an ice cream stand. Did I mention the wall to wall CRAP that covers the place?? It is almost like every yard sale known to man barfed on these buildings, inside and out! It was horrifically amazing!!
You walk in and you are convinced that you are going to get food poisoning but at the same time, you just have to try the food. So we ordered a couple of hot dogs and gave it a try!
The first one that I tried was a UK Wildcat which was a hot dog covered with chili sauce (chili), onions and slaw, and I also tried Chuck's Junk Yard Dog which had their homemade chili sauce, mustard, onions, ketchup, mayo, relish, slaw, nacho cheese, jalapenos, and barbeque sauce! Holy crap was that one messy!! Then I ordered some garlic ranch cheese fries to share with Matt. Matt ordered a Hillbilly Dog which was a deep fried hot dog with homemade chili sauce, mustard & onions, and a Hound Dog (see the description below).
Once we finished, we were still a little hungry so I tried the Pizza Dog which was a hot dog with pizza sauce on it, melted cheddar cheese, and pepperoni. Matt then had the Hound Dog which had barbeque sauce, onions. mustard, and their chili sauce on it. Holy crap were these good hot dogs!! I wish we lived closer! Though, it may be a good thing that we don't if I plan on sticking to this Weight Watchers thing lol!! I was able to get some great pictures of the restaurant and then we headed out because we had another 3 hours of driving to do.
There was a brief moment when I thought that we may die in West Virginia. No lie. So, the "idiot light" came on in the car so we started to look for a gas station. Well the sign for it was literally in the middle of the exit so we didn't see it in time and then it was a million years until the next exit so we got off. Well there are apparently a ton of towns where there are just houses. Eventually we found this nice "kid" (He was like 15) walking down the road so Matt stopped and asked him where there was a gas station. The kid got really thoughtful for a second and he directed us to the one that he thought was closer (there was one to the right and one to the left of pretty equal distance but he was trying to decide which was closest - which was really thoughtful of him since we were literally running on fumes). We finally found the gas station but as we pulled in, the guy in the truck next to us totally gave me the stink eye. I had to giggle because it was so 'small town'ish. If you grew up in a small town, you know exactly what I am talking about! We did eventually find our way back to the freeway and lived to see another day lol.
Now we are in Natural Bridge, VA and from what I have seen of it, our camp site if very nice! There are LOTS of trees and I did see a bridge as we drove through. I can't wait to see it during the daylight! But, for now, it's time to go nuh-nights. Tomorrow we are going to go check out Sigma Nu headquarters, dinosaurs eating Union soldiers (tee hee), some parade floats and Washington D.C.!! Yay!!
Shepherdsville, KY --> Natural Bridge, VA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT'S DAD!!!
There is no better way to start your morning than with a shower. Right?? Yeah. Well - that's true unless you decided to take a shower using the one that I did this morning. It was the WORST! Okay - well it ties for the worst because I can think of two others that drive me bonkers as well. It literally took 25 minutes just to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner from my hair! I almost took the scissors to it myself if it would speed up that damn shower! GAH! So of COURSE that led to us running late - again. I am going to just start using a hose. Or get a buzz cut. Either option works for me.
So, we got some gas for the car and then headed to the Jim Beam distillery. Their next tour was 30 min after we got there so we wandered the gift shop for a while. And for a company as big as Jim Beam, you would expect a lot more from the tour. Jim Beam has been making bourbon whisky for over 200 years and out of 195 countries, Jim Beam distributes to 126 of them, making them the biggest bourbon whisky distributor in the world. They also maintain upwards of 1.8 million barrels of whiskey on the premise at any given time. I also learned that bourbon whiskey, by law, can only be made in the United States. If it is made anywhere else, it can only be called 'whiskey'. I also learned that the bark on the trees around the distillery are black (literally) due to the moisture given off from the distillery. That is how agents knew where to find distilleries during Prohibition - they would just look for trees that had turned black and they would know that someone was making moonshine/whiskey nearby! Cool huh??
However, that is about the extent of what we learned from the tour. You can't go into the actual distillery to see how the whiskey is made - that won't be available until 2012 and our tour guide seemed to be on a mission to make it the shortest tour possible. I could tell Matt was disappointed, which sucked because he was really looking forward to this stop on the trip. After the tour, we did get to try some Jim Beam Black and some Baker's. I liked the Baker's because it was more mild and had a vanilla flavor to it. Matt found it to be too sweet for whiskey. We picked up some souvenirs and then continued on our way.
Today was mostly a driving day. After Jim Beam, the only other thing that we had on the schedule was Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com), but we took a bit of a detour as I wanted to get a Kentucky snowglobe and shot glass. Who knew it would be such a challenge!? We passed signs for the state capitol and Kentucky History Museum - figured one or the other would work. After driving around the capitol building and annex, we finally found parking somewhere in eastern mongolia. The buildings were pretty, but it's way too hot here. We walked inside and the security guy told us that they don't have a gift shop anymore, and that the closest one is at the museum. He drew Matt a map and shooed us back out into the heat (jerk) and the long walk back to the car. Unfortunately, the museum is only open Wednesday - Saturday (you'd think he could have mentioned that). We drove to the visitors' center and the woman inside suggested the chocolate shop that gives tours. Sure - why didn't I think of that! I TOTALLY should have realized that the CANDY store would have snowglobes!! Funny enough, they actually did have a cute snowglobe and they are also the inventors of the bourbon ball, which is a delicious chocolate treat. I'll have to order some... just not sure if they'll get through the alcohol czars in Utard. .:giggle:.
So now that our lunch plan turned into a dinner plan (sorry Honey!), we finally headed on our way to our original first stop, Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com) - which was freaking AMAZING!
You pull up to this place and your first reaction is pure horror! It is the epitome of hillbilly. There are two school buses side by side that have been converted into dining areas, and then a bunch of shacks built around them that make up the restaurant, the men's room and the women's room, and then an ice cream stand. Did I mention the wall to wall CRAP that covers the place?? It is almost like every yard sale known to man barfed on these buildings, inside and out! It was horrifically amazing!!
You walk in and you are convinced that you are going to get food poisoning but at the same time, you just have to try the food. So we ordered a couple of hot dogs and gave it a try!
The first one that I tried was a UK Wildcat which was a hot dog covered with chili sauce (chili), onions and slaw, and I also tried Chuck's Junk Yard Dog which had their homemade chili sauce, mustard, onions, ketchup, mayo, relish, slaw, nacho cheese, jalapenos, and barbeque sauce! Holy crap was that one messy!! Then I ordered some garlic ranch cheese fries to share with Matt. Matt ordered a Hillbilly Dog which was a deep fried hot dog with homemade chili sauce, mustard & onions, and a Hound Dog (see the description below).
Once we finished, we were still a little hungry so I tried the Pizza Dog which was a hot dog with pizza sauce on it, melted cheddar cheese, and pepperoni. Matt then had the Hound Dog which had barbeque sauce, onions. mustard, and their chili sauce on it. Holy crap were these good hot dogs!! I wish we lived closer! Though, it may be a good thing that we don't if I plan on sticking to this Weight Watchers thing lol!! I was able to get some great pictures of the restaurant and then we headed out because we had another 3 hours of driving to do.
There was a brief moment when I thought that we may die in West Virginia. No lie. So, the "idiot light" came on in the car so we started to look for a gas station. Well the sign for it was literally in the middle of the exit so we didn't see it in time and then it was a million years until the next exit so we got off. Well there are apparently a ton of towns where there are just houses. Eventually we found this nice "kid" (He was like 15) walking down the road so Matt stopped and asked him where there was a gas station. The kid got really thoughtful for a second and he directed us to the one that he thought was closer (there was one to the right and one to the left of pretty equal distance but he was trying to decide which was closest - which was really thoughtful of him since we were literally running on fumes). We finally found the gas station but as we pulled in, the guy in the truck next to us totally gave me the stink eye. I had to giggle because it was so 'small town'ish. If you grew up in a small town, you know exactly what I am talking about! We did eventually find our way back to the freeway and lived to see another day lol.
Now we are in Natural Bridge, VA and from what I have seen of it, our camp site if very nice! There are LOTS of trees and I did see a bridge as we drove through. I can't wait to see it during the daylight! But, for now, it's time to go nuh-nights. Tomorrow we are going to go check out Sigma Nu headquarters, dinosaurs eating Union soldiers (tee hee), some parade floats and Washington D.C.!! Yay!!
Bricker keeps saying that all your emails make him hungry and I have to agree. Pizza dog? Don't forget to check the 'idiot light'- hee hee
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